We have been hearing about the Nintendo Switch Mini for a while not but we have got nothing from Nintendo. Not even a whisper. That is not something new, as the company does like to keep people in the dark till the very last moment and I am guessing that is what is happening right now.
There have been plenty of speculations and predictions regarding what the upcoming Nintendo Switch Mini will have to offer and here we are going to look into all that.
What Will The Nintendo Switch Mini Have To Offer?
The Nintendo Switch Mini is supposed to be a smaller version of the original device and it will be designed for handheld gaming only. While some suggest that it will be compatible with the dock and joycons, it will not come with those out of the box and that is one of the reasons why it is going to be cheaper than the original Nintendo Switch.
An important thing to note here is that because the Nintendo Switch Mini will not come with removable joycons, it won’t be switching and might be called something else entirely. This is something that we will have to wait and see.
Wall Street Journal mentioned that there will most likely be a Nintendo Switch Mini handheld device that will cost lower than the original device and will replace the 3DS. Right now the technology used for the Switch display is inferior when compared to modern day phones but reports claim that the refresh will not have OLED displays so it will be interesting to see what Nintendo is going to do in order to make the display of the Nintendo Switch Mini better.
Predictions and Speculation
Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities analyst thinks that Nintendo will release a completely handheld device and that it will cost below $200. The following is what he had to say in this regard:
I expect the device to have the same screen, but with Joy Cons built into the body and no docking station.
Since it can’t “Switch” from handheld to console, it’s hard to guess what they will call it, but let’s assume Game Boy (kidding).
It will be interesting to see what the device will be called and we have also heard that there might be a pro version coming out as well. While there is not much that we know about this version of the device, reports claim that it might have better hardware that will allow it to run games at 1080p even in handheld mode. 4K would be too much to ask even with the added power from the dock.
Nintendo Moving Away From Home Consoles
The Wii did not do all that well in terms of sales and the Nintendo Switch has been incredibly popular since it came out. Now Nintendo intents to move away from home consoles entirely. Keeping in mind that the Switch is partly a home console, this might be another hint at the Nintendo Switch Mini, or whatever it is going to be called when it comes out. The following is what Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa had to say regarding the matter:
We aren’t really fixated on our consoles. At the moment we’re offering the uniquely developed Nintendo Switch and its software – and that’s what we’re basing how we deliver the ‘Nintendo experience’ on. That being said, technology changes. We’ll continue to think flexibly about how to deliver that experience as time goes on.
Shuntaro Furukawa mentioned that the company has been in the business for a long time and that it might be moving away from home consoles after all this time. It is true, Nintendo has released plenty of devices since the company launched and there have been some great ones and some disappointing one that did not do too well. I think that the company is going to build on the success that it has gained from the Nintendo Switch. Furukawa went on to mention the following:
It has been over 30 years since we started developing consoles. Nintendo’s history goes back even farther than that, and through all the struggles that they faced the only thing that they thought about was what to make next. In the long-term, perhaps our focus as a business could shift away from home consoles – flexibility is just as important as ingenuity.
Pricing and Availability
The Nintendo Switch has been around for a while now and it is about time that Nintendo released some kind of hardware update. It is expected that the Nintendo Switch Mini will be released or at least announced in 2019. It will be cheaper than the original console as it will not come with the dock or the joycons. It is expected that the Nintendo Switch Mini will cost around $200.
Rumors have us believe that there will be a Nintendo Direct in January 2019 and if that is the case then we might hear more about the Nintendo Switch Mini. This is rumor and speculation so take this with a grain of salt.
It will be interesting to see what the Nintendo Switch Mini will have to offer in terms of performance and how it can build on the already successful Nintendo Switch. The future seems to be based on cloud computing, with Microsoft bringing gaming to all kinds of devices, it will be interesting to see how many people would actually be interested in a local device such as the Nintendo Switch.
Let us know what you think about the Nintendo Switch Mini and whether or not this is something that you might be interested in keeping in mind the lower price point.
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